Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Itsy Bitsy Bat



My itsy bitsy bat went to a party at nursery today. There were sceletons, and witches, and pumpkins, and black snotty cats, and red and black spiders. And they screeched and jumped and went for Tara's toys. And were they scary?

Nooooo, mummy!










But my itsy bitsy bat said:
Take that THING off my head, mummy! I don't want it there! It scares me!


And back at home the little kitten said, "trick or trick, or what?!" and dumped her dinner* on the floor, for she was full of fairy cakes and other treats. Bad bat! But mummy only got a little bit cross and treated the bitty bat to lots of cuddles anyway.
Aaah, Halloween... But tomorrow we're back on fruitstix and raisins!

* Yes. Tortellini.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Oh, Chicken!

So Jose left for the week, Tara said her ba-ba's and watched daddy go. And then would not budge a centimeter from the door. So I opened it to prove daddy really really was gone for the week and definitely nowhere in sight. The chicken was off like a shot and toddled off as fast as her little legs would carry her, straight for the main door to peep out. And stood and peeped and stood and peeped, long enough for mum to get the camera ... awful mum but I wanted to show daddy. And the whole family.

Really, truly. Only three weeks to go, and only just two weekends.

Autumn: Cold, Yellow & Orange

It's Saturday, Daddy is back, and we resume family life, that good old autumn & winter warming thing. The heating is switched on, and we get out new slippers in warming summer tones out for play (and snack) time at home, before we venture out into the cold in yet more warm tones.

All the way down New Walk, and Tara is allowed to WALK some all by herself (did we mention she walks rather well?), and once our weekend shoppings are done, a nice drink and Saturday dinner in a cool bar for cool people that are a bit cold and want a boiling hot place to strip down to their undies. (We're cool! We were cold, and now we're boiling hot and in our undies!)

Apple juice... but really, anything with a straw in it will make a sticky mess, yeah.

And who can resist the charming cold and come straight back home? Not us! One nappy change later we're back out in the park racing friends and doing other fun stuff that helps us keep warm.
Oops! Colour! Green and pink!


No weekend blog complete without daddy, so here he goes: Daddy, aka The Daddy Monster, chasing Princess Chicken all the way across the house. A keep-warm favourite, Rrrrrrrrr....

" Eeeeekkk," *giggle screech giggle*...

... and, once caught, rrrrrooooaaarrr, a Washingtonian Nappy Change (again!) in an homage to all out American friends suffering silently in their American cold. Smile, daddy!


One week down, three to go! Half the bathroom is packed up, and I'm busy baking up outdated (only slightly!!) kitchen cupboard ingredients so I won't have to bin them. Winter warming biscuits, anyone?

Tara Hosts a Midnight Party

From two. To five. On Thursday. A weekday. Special guests: Mummy and The Suckables. At first: cute. Then: NOT CUTE AT ALL and ***-** will you GO BACK TO ****-ing SLEEP NOW!!
But NO! Tara INSISTED on having her party, her way!
At 4.30 The Suckables had had ENOUGH, and mummy too, so they left the party and went back into their pajama top. Which is when The Crying started. Which looked A LOT worse that in the picture but somewhat similar. Imagine as follows: Party baby wants to party on. Keeps sitting up. Is tired really, but you just can't knock her out. Eventually Mummy slaps a leg across her back to keep her down. Extreme measure, but extreme times... Party girl wriggles like a worm and howls. ***** unpleasant.(1)
Eventually mummy wins, Tara sleeps.
BUT IT WAS AWFUL!!!

Two days later, tooth number 8 is spotted. A tooth-number-eight-launch-party then, it seems.
Well.
Could have been worse, right?

(1) Mummy gets duly punished for having run out of patience and justly suffers from a monster headache the next day. At work. At home. All. ****-ing. Day. Long. Yuk.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Artwork, Various (2007)

Isn't it just admirable! Aaaah, my daughter! Such great ways with the jumbo crayons!

Sun, Bird, Etcetera (2007)

And in a true flash of inspiration, she created Toilet Roll, Erupted (2007) as I stood by and applauded her enthusiastically!

Toilet Roll, Erupted (2007)

I did not get a picture of Soup & Bread on Kitchen Floor (Soup on fake wooden laminate, 2007), and sadly prevented the creation of Contents of Mummy's Bathroom Bin, Rearranged on Bathroom Floor (2007).

But I did create a work of beauty myself this morning... Pumpkin, Aaawhowsweet (2007-10-24, Child Arranged on Window Sill, With Reflection of Silly Mum)

Note the beautiful correspondence in the number and position of teeth in pumpkin/background and pumpkin/foreground?

And what are your artistic feelings about my portrait of Matilda in Matilda: Wanting Out (2007-10-24)?


Tara surely felt the same, except she was busy feeling upset about no longer being on the same side of the gate as mummy. Pumpkin smile wiped off... Poor pumpkin! Why does mummy always have to go back to silly work?! Only three more weeks, pumpkin!

... dammit, where did that piece of yellow crayola... you did not EAT that, Tara?!?

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Taras Wochenende







Tara, sag mal, was hat dir an diesem Wochenende Spaß gemacht, hm?









ALSO! Mama und Papa sind mit mir in den Kindergarten gegangen. Sie durften mit den Leuten da sprechen, was ich alles kann. Und ich durfte toll mit Papa in meinem Zimmer spielen.

Mama hat sich richtig doll geärgert, weil die ganz dollen Unsinn über mich geredet haben. So, ich soll besser sprechen. Dabei kann ich wauwau und ooph (shoes) sagen und (ba)nana und quak-quak mit der Hand und Mama und Papa und isch (heiß) und ba-ba (bye-bye), und Mama sagt jeder mit zwei Pfennig Ausbildung weiss, dass Kinder so wie ich mit drei Sprachen etwas später anfangen zu reden, aber was will man auch wissen, wenn man keine 18 ist und im Kindergarten arbeitet und noch nicht mal genug Manieren hat, sich dem Papa mit Namen vorzustellen! Und dass ich besser laufen soll und zu viel umfalle, wenn größere Kinder auf mich zu laufen, und Mama und Papa waren böse, weil ich ganz toll laufen kann, guck mal:

Aber mir war das alles egal, weil Mama hat gesagt ich darf so viele Kekse essen wie ich will, und das hab ich dann auch gemacht nämlich FÜNF Kekse und Mama und Papa waren ganz stolz, weil ich so toll Bilder kleben kann und sie mich so lieb haben auch wenn ich lieber mit Spielsachen spiele als mit den Kindern und auch wenn ich nicht allein mit Gabel und Löffel esse. Braucht man ja auch bei Keksen gar nicht und bei Tortellini, und ich bin doch auch noch keine 15 Monate alt. Aber, sagt Mama, mit so ner Ausbildung, die keiner nachweisen kann, und für die die sowieso noch viel zu jung sind, da kann man auch nur solchen Unsinn erwarten, und bestimmt schimpft Mama morgen noch mal mit dem Manager! Weil sie hat sich grün geärgert! Und dann nach den Keksen gab es Mittag bei Croques und ich durfte auch mit die Kartoffel aussuchen, aber ich hatte keinen Hunger mehr und habe erst mal ganz viel geschlafen und Mama und Papa waren ganz froh weil ich so glücklich war.

Und dann habe ich Mama und Papa auf einen Milchschaum eingeladen mit Mamas Geld, und wir haben gut Kuchen gegessen.

Guck mal, da sind wir alle, Papa sieht sehr gut aus in seiner Jacke und ich sitze am liebsten bei Mama auf dem Schoß.

Ach, lecker Milchschaum!

Und weil ich ja so gerne male, da hat Papa mir neue Stifte gekauft und wir haben ganz viel gemalt, bloß hat der Papa immer so geschimpft, wenn ich in die Stifte gebissen habe, und Mama hat mir immer die Farbreste aus den Zähnen geputzt und gesagt, ja mal gottseidank dass es so ein tolle Sonderangebot gab und eine extra Zahnbürste umsonst, und ich mag Zahnbürsten auch so gerne und hab extra noch mal in die Stifte gebissen!

Malen ist toll!! Willst du auch einen Stift? Aber nicht beißen, sonst schimpft Papa!

Und dann kamen Ewa und Greg und Ewa hat die größte Haarspange der Welt, viiiieeel größer als alle von Mama zusammen, und die wollte mich beißen und das war so lustig!

Ein richtig gutes Wochenende war das und wir haben ganz viel gespielt und gekuschelt, und dann habe ich zu Papa bye gesagt und bald ist wieder Wochenende!

Music & Tortellini

Friday night. The lights are so so we don't have to see the mess we've already made on the kitchen floor with our starter of grapes and banana. The mess is for daddy who will come home later. We are enjoying a quiet night in, dinner for one, and some lovely music. Mummy watches.








Aaaaah, good food!




















Aaah, good music!











And the two combine so well! Watch!

Can one ever get enough of tortellini, ravioli and the like?!


Sunday, October 14, 2007

Home Scribbly New Home


Oh the joy when Papi came home Friday night! Tara went from sleepy mode into excited overkill within seconds and sat in bed giggling, shrieking, chatting and throwing daddy kisses as he's taught her last Sunday just before he'd left, and that I, for one, hadn't seen a trace of all week (!). So, with bedtime out the window, daddy got pen and paper out to give us a 'better idea' of our new sweet home and started scribbling. It appears that Tara has her own opinion of where which room ought to be, and which piece of furniture in what corner - she would not have anybody be in charge of the pen other than her artsy self. Or was she simply busy crossing out all daddy's plans, saying 'I'm happy here in Leicester, so scribble scribble to this Sandwich business'?

The below certainly provides photographic evidence that Tara is happy in Leicester (when daddy is home...):

Photographic evidence of Tara's great Leicester happiness







On the other hand, home is where the fridge is, and Tara's fridge is the one with the half eaten fruit pot in it, irrespective of location...
(trousers way too big!)







And while daddy is feeling rather enthusiastic about the whole move and everything, I'm getting a little bit excited about the new location too (irrespective of the fridge): my new gym-to-be offers, hurrah, POLE DANCE classes on a Sunday! Excellent, been wanting to do that for two years now!

And what with the weather so lovely (well, good enough), of course we went out to collect more fond local memories, here: Leicester Townhall Square, known for its beautiful and manifold, culturally varied, wedding parties.



In the background on the left, a themed 40's wedding party (just to explain the uniform). Jose suggests we have a themed medieval party. He would love donning a proper knight-in-shining-armor kit!

But at present of far greater interest, ta-da:

And because that's so exciting, here she is, walking some more. Hurrah to Tara!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

After Summer: Autumn

No end to one thing without the beginning of the next. But of course I'm talking about the seasons; no no no, no reference to maybe a degree of anxiety re the impending move / end / change / new start into The Great Unknown by the sea, no no, no way.
At any rate, we' re about to put the summer wardrobe away (together with, roughly, everything else), and while we're getting the warmer clothes out, we're also working hard at getting another handful of warm Autumn memories of Leicester in.


Fond memories of New Walk (just before all the leaves are gone and it gets a bit ugly)

Fond memories of Leicester Cathedral (from the outside, which is nicer than the inside)

And below? The BBC cafe. We will remember it fondly too, and bubbly-ly-pop...



Daddy's Girl

It's probaby genetic. And, oh!, will it come in handy when we move to Ramsgate next month. The first house Dr. Daddy looked at was turned down. 6 Royal Road suffered from historic overload, a tourist problem, a concrete garden and a certain lack of white goods, furniture and proper insulation. The second house pleased Dr. Daddy more, and he agreed to rent it on the spot. Admirable. He obviously doesn't feel the need to find 10 great bargain houses to give himself a great selection to choose from. The right man for the job! And time to pack boxes, rent vans, buy a car, renew drivers licenses, and hand in notice left right and center. That's mummy's job. Pah.

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Va-va-voom


As mum & dad are debating when exactly to move, and how much to pay, or not to pay (that is the question) the tax man back (who by now has decided they don't want to pay us so much child support after all...), Tara is getting more and more mobile. Feet, wheels, half wheels, hands - anything you put on offer, she accepts.

By now, Tara walks. Well, toddles; all available arms outstretched for a bit of extra balance. All the way across the room and back, and next straight to the door because it's so much more fun outside.


Oh, it's great being mobile!

Mum & dad are being offered a car, and are thinking hard about accepting that too, because obviously life in the garden of England will be different and surely one needs a car eventually?